That Wednesday night ended the way everything seems to end these days for the Carolina Hurricanes was all the more unexpected given the most unusual of starts.

Even before the puck was dropped against the Atlanta Thrashers, warm-ups were interrupted by a fire alarm, courtesy of a grease fire in an arena restaurant, the rock music replaced by the shrill trilling of a siren and an electronic voice commanding fans to "exit the building."

"That was weird," Hurricanes forward Scott Walker said. "At first, I was like, 'This is odd warm-up music. I don't know what they're listening to.' "

In the stands, most of the fans ignored the public-address pleas to exit the building. On the ice, the players went through the motions as normal in the eerie calm, the scraping of skate blades and thump of puck against boards the only noise between blasts of the alarm.

If the Canes were unwilling to deviate from their routine then, why change anything when the game started?

The Hurricanes gave up the first goal, had six of the game's first seven power plays and scored four straight goals on their way to a 6-3 win over the Thrashers, their ninth in the past 13 games overall and sixth in their past seven games in Atlanta.

In short, business as usual for the Canes.

Thanks to a sloppy second period, their win didn't have the same metallic efficiency as Saturday's 5-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning, but it had the same effect -- the heartless dismantling of whatever playoff hopes their Southeast Division foe may yet have harbored.

Playing in front of a sparse crowd liberally sprinkled with Carolina fans, the Canes dominated the first period and outshot the Thrashers 14-3, recovering from a fluky goal to score twice before the first was out and going up 3-1 less than 30 seconds into the second.

Eric Staal scored twice, Frantisek Kaberle had three assists, Walker scored one goal and set up another and Ryan Bayda, Joe Corvo and Erik Cole also scored for the Canes, who maintained their three-point lead over the Washington Capitals, who won 3-1 over the Buffalo Sabres.

"I think everyone has that confidence we can get it done every night," Staal said. "We're just rolling right now. It's a great feeling to have going into this last month."

A little more diligence on the power play, where the Canes were 1-for-7, and the final score would have been worse.

As it was, the Thrashers picked up their game in the second -- "we were sloppy and lackadaisical," Hurricanes coach Peter Laviolette said -- and applied some pressure in the third before Staal sealed the win as relief goalie Johan Hedberg headed to the bench.

Still, the rout was so complete even the officials were scoring for the Canes. Midway through the second, a Bret Hedican dump-in hit the skate of referee Steve Kozari and ended up in the Atlanta net. That goal was waved off, but Cole made it a three-goal lead 40 seconds later.

After a Staal centering pass deflected off Garnet Exelby's head and into the net to make it a 5-2 Carolina lead, Atlanta coach and general manager Don Waddell flipped out on the Atlanta bench, angry that the whistle wasn't blown when Hedberg froze the puck.

With the defending division champs plummeting out of the playoff picture, forced to trade superstar Marian Hossa and losers of eight straight (0-5-3), these are tough times for Atlanta.

Alarm bells, literal and figurative, may be going off in Atlanta but at the moment all is well in Carolina. After a rocky flight down to Atlanta through bad weather on Tuesday, the Canes headed home Wednesday night floating on a cushion of smooth air and good vibes.

"It's more of a sense of calm," Walker said. "There's not that sense of panic. You come to the rink with a smile on your face."